The love of stuffed vine leaves extends way beyond the borders of the Levant. People from The Balkans, Greece, Turkey, Iraq, Iran and all the way to Middle Asia enjoys the tiny tangy wraps. I tried to do some research into the dish origin but I found it difficult to accurately identify where it was first cooked. Many different nations make a claim but without a doubt the Turkish voice remains the loudest. The name most commonly used in all of these countries "Dolma" or a variation of it. Dolma is Turkish for "stuffed".

The dish is most likely invented or at least developed into its current form in the Ottoman Empire. At one point it was one huge country extending from Central Europe to Central Asia and including most of North Africa. Food, ingredients, recipes and even chefs moved freely around the empire. No wonder there are so many similarities and common dishes in all these countries cuisines.

In Syria we use Turkish names to call stuffed vine leaves but interestingly it is not Dolma. We cooked vine leaves in two ways one with meat and rice stuffing, served hot and eaten as a main dish. This dish is called Yaprak, Turkish for "leaf". The other is the vegetarian variant most people know, served cold as a starter or part of a Mezze spread. This version is called Yalangi, Turkish for "fake". Fake because it doesn't contain any meat of course!

Finely chop the onion and tomato. Sweat the onions in olive oil on medium heat till soft and translucent. Drain the rice and add to the pot. Stir well till the rice grain are heated and coated with the oil. Add the chopped tomato, parsley, mint, allspice. Season with salt and add the juice of half a lemon. Mix well and remove from the heat. Taste the rice mixture for seasoning.

Spoon a small amount of the mixture into the centre of the leaf. Fold the edges and roll as in the picture. If this is your first time, it will start slowly but don't get disheartened. You will soon be much quicker and the roles will look neater.

Cover the bottom of the pot with the left over leaves or sliced potatoes to prevent the wraps sticking to the bottom of the pot. Arrange the rolled leaves in layers. They need to be fairly compact to prevent them opening or breaking. Once you arranged all the wrapped leaves put a small plate on the top preferably with a small weight to keep the vine leaves compact.

Add the juice of the other lemon half and cover with water. Start cooking on a high heat. Once started boiling turn down the heat to medium and cook for another 20-30 minutes. Cooking time will depend on how soft the leaves are. Keep an eye on them.

Once cooked transfer carefully to a plate and let cool down before serving.

There are countless variations to stuffed vine leaves recipe. You can replace the lemon juice with pomegranate molasses. Greeks use dill instead of parsley. Turks add currents or raisins sometimes. Iraqis cook their dolma with tamarind. Feel free to adapt the recipe the way you like it.

In ex Yugoslavia countries (Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia...) it's called sarma (hot dish, made with sour cabbage leaves, minced meat and rice) or sarmica (small sarma, can be made with wine leafs or other green leafy stuff, with or without meat, hot or cold). Sarma or sarmica - it's the most popular dish here. :)

Those look incredible. My wife and I had a similar dish such as that one when we visited South America. Thanks for the recipe. Keep up the great work with your articles and please stop by my health blog sometime. The web address is http://healthy-nutrition-facts.blogspot.com/.

@NovOrganizmWelcome to my blog. My first reader from Serbia. I forgot to mention "Sarma" in the post. It is another word from Tukish origin "sarmak" meaning "To Wrap"

@tasteofbeirutDo you have any special name in Lebanon or do you call them stuffed vine leaves (mehshi waraa enab)?Ghraoui chocolate is great. I was hoping to visit them for an interview and post it here but unfortunatly I didn't have time in my last visit to Syria.

@ZoraA grapevine in New York!!!

@Davon JacobsonWelcome to my blog. I am glad you like it. What was the stuffing in the South American version?

I'm still hesitant to call the dish Turkish. If European countries call it Dolma (or a derivative), that would be because of their proximity to the Ottoman Empire. There is probably no doubt that it got to Europe through the Turks, but Middle-Eastern that doesn't make it Turkish. As you know, Lebanon is one of the oldest grape growing regions in the world and is thought to be the earliest wine making region in the world, so they must have used the grape leaves, especially when making verjuice, the leaves would have been perfect. That said, this recipe could have originated from any of the Mediterranean countries and to concede it to anyone is difficult.

I agree with you. It is very difficult to pinpoint the actual origin of this dish or the majority of our dishes. But one have to aknowledge that our current cuisine in its current format is Ottoman era food.

Do you agree that our modern Levantine cuisine is not a natural progression of Medival Arabic cooking? I, and this is all personal views, feel that North African food, Iraqi and Iranian cuisine have more with Medival Arabic/Islamic cuisine than our food in Syria and Lebanon.

This is partly because Ottoman influence was strongest and longest in the Levant, and partly because of the free movement of people and ingredients between Natural Syria and Istanbul. People with crafts (builders, carpenters, decorators ...) moved or even forced to move on occasions to Istanbul bringing all their skills with them. Chefs were no exception.

Hi Kano, I tried making these today as a test-run before my dinner party! I think they came out okay considering it was my first time but here are the issues I faced:

- After I took them out of the pan, within an hour, the side that was facing up became shriveled and wrinkly looking. Is it because it was exposed to air and had it been in an airtight container would it have stayed juicy looking?

- The stalks of some of the leaves were a bit hard so we couldn't chew them. Is that a problem in the leaf itself or is it because it wasn't cooked for long enough?

Anyway, aside from those 2 small problems, it was great and I can't believe I made it!!!

I just made these and they turned out so delicious! My husband is also a Syrian surgeon, and we are living in the UK! I made these to take to his family in the UK for New Years Eve tomorrow, and he has already eaten half of them!!! Definitely a favourite!

My husband's family came to the US after the genocide (Assyrian) in the 20's. His parents never learned to cook the dishes that he loved as a boy - some of the names are different. "Tagat" is what they called "dolma" - I am hoping this recipe is close to grandma Maritza's! I'm looking for a recipe for fasouli - (green beans and braised beef) - any suggestions? Thank you for the great blog. I'm learning a lot.

I.m from Eastern Europe, Romania and we also have this kind of stuff, both vegetarian and with meat (making them in early summer, when grapeleaves are fresh). The major difference is the absence of mint and the presence of dill. I agree that this is a heritage from the Otoman period, since it is not eaten in parts of the country that were not included in the otoman empire in the padt. Excellent blog!!congrats!